Monique Pollard – Ground Organics

Surprise foodies! Today I’m chatting to Monique Pollard. Monique is the founder and director of Ground Organics (the best raw vegan café ever) along with her fiancé James. Soon they are opening a juicery in Mooloolaba too! Today’s interview with Monique is beyond amazing. She speaks straight from the heart and you can feel her authenticity in every word. To be honest, one of her answers actually made me cry. Meet the beautiful Monique…

Tell us about your journey, what sparked your passion for the health and wellness industry?

My wellness journey started a couple of years ago, James (my fiancé/business partner) and I started searching for true health and happiness after years of feeling like we had no purpose or passion for life, and I felt flat and lifeless. Once we practiced and discovered the benefits of living well, eating well and thinking well we realised that we wanted to be surrounded by this 24/7. We didn’t want wellness to be just a hobby on the sidelines we wanted to live and breathe it and have a career that we could evolve in, as well as inspire others to do the same.

What’s your number one wellness tip?

Learn to love yourself. Once you master this, you will only want to put the very best fuel in your body, the very best thoughts in your mind and you will genuinely want to nourish yourself without exception. You become more and more willing to do whatever it takes to live the healthiest and happiest life when you love who you are.

What’s your one non-negotiable when it comes to your health?

Listening to my body every moment of every day. Hearing what it requires to thrive and taking action.

What motto do you live by?

To never stop learning more about myself and the universe.

What is your proudest achievement?

Creating Ground Organics is definitely my proudest achievement. It has brought so many incredible people into my life who are now my best friends, allowed me to live and breathe wellness, to learn more about the industry and myself. Ground has also taught me many valuable life lessons including to have the guts to follow my dreams and intuition despite the opinions of others. This isn’t just a job for me, it is my purpose. I wake up each day inspired to give and discover more. The biggest realisation being that when you allow yourself to be authentically you, incredible opportunities arrive at your doorstep.

What are your goals for the future?

To create new avenues that can improve the health and happiness of people. To inspire and connect with more people. I plan to do these things by creating a blog, opening cold-pressed juicery’s to fuel people with green juice and empower people through our social media channels.

Tell us something not many people know about you?

That I had an eating disorder for over eight years. I haven’t told many people this actually. At the time I didn’t feel comfortable asking for help so I kept it a secret, and now I am in this world of wellness I don’t find I need to tell many people. I have this amazing friend though, and she has been through a very similar situation. We have some really great, deep talks and tonight she said that sharing my story could help so many people. I’ve always known that I wanted to help people live their best lives possible, but for some reason it didn’t click that I could inspire people who were in a situation that I had been all too familiar with. In Ground’s new blog I will talk more about my experiences and how I got to where I am today. Remember that the flower needs the dirt in which it grows, if it were not for my past experiences I may not be thriving where I am right now, living a life full of creation and fulfillment at such a young age. Be thankful for your journey whatever that may look like.

Can you share with us one of your favourite recipes?

Chocolate and Peppermint Ice Cream

Ingredients: *all organic

10 Frozen Bananas

2 Medjool Dates

2 Heaped table spoons of Lucuma

2 drops of peppermint essential oil (or to taste)

2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (or to taste depending on how chocolatey you like it)

1 table spoon of cacao nibs (ADD THESE AFTER ALL INGREDIENTS ARE COMBINED)

Method:

Mix all (except cacao nibs) ingredients in a food processor, thermo-mix or high speed blender. Add cacao nibs. You can eat straight away or freeze again if it went too soft in the blending process.